


Don't Make Me Turn This Car Around

by TwilightKnight17



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Mementos runs with the team!, Semi-Crack, Third Semester, slightly implied Shuake, some Royal spoilers; see beginning author's note for details
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Joker is the disappointed dad of the team.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 457





	Don't Make Me Turn This Car Around

**Author's Note:**

> There are Royal spoilers here for:
> 
> \- A major spoiler for Kasumi's role in the third semester  
> \- Kasumi's thief codename  
> \- The identity of the final Palace ruler  
> \- A few minor mentions of third semester story events
> 
> There are no spoilers for the interior of the final Palace or the final bossfight. If you've gotten past the first two weeks of January, you're probably fine.

Mementos runs were...awkward, now.

Akira had always considered it a chance to bond. Everyone in the car, taking turns driving, talking and joking while they looked for their targets and sharpened their skills. Now, with the addition of extra people in the car, with everything that had happened, conversations would occasionally stutter to a stop. People would start to speak and cut themselves off, or say something and immediately backpedal.

It was obvious to anyone paying attention what the source of the discomfort was. Having Goro around, the Black Mask in their bus like nothing had happened, was strange. Even Sumire, who had no direct reason to be wary of him except his feral attitude towards shadows, was picking up on the slightly anxious atmosphere.

Akira, meanwhile, was just annoyed.

Driving through Akzeriyyuth was a pain in the ass anyway. The purple tint to the walls meant that it was darker and harder to see, so he was having to pay more attention to make sure he didn’t run Morgana into a wall. Futaba had claimed shotgun so she could help with the mapping, and the others had piled into the backseats. And once again, the bus was silent. Ann had started to say something about Haru’s father, stopped abruptly and apologized, and now everything was awkward again. Akira resisted the urge to bang his head on the steering wheel. He was starting to wonder if waking up the rest of the team had been worth it, if the mission was going to be like this from now on. Maybe he could have stopped Maruki with just Goro and Sumire’s help

To his great surprise, though, it was Goro who eventually broke the silence.

“I never really had a chance to say this before now,” he said quietly, expression mostly hidden behind his mask and helmet, “but I wanted to thank you all for dealing with Shido. For keeping your promise.”

Akira smiled, eyes still on the road. But before he could respond, Ryuji said, “Yeah, uh… we did that for Joker. Not for you, bro.”

Everyone lurched in their seats as Akira slammed on the brakes and the bus squealed to a halt in the middle of the tunnel.

“Oi!” Morgana screeched.

“What the heck, Joker?!” Futaba cried, cradling the laptop she’d barely saved from flying into the windshield.

Akira twisted around in his seat, his expression cold. He’d never felt so disappointed in any of his friends before. They’d all started trying to talk when the bus stopped, but fell silent at the look on his face, and he stared directly at Ryuji and said pointedly, “I did it for him.”

Ryuji flustered. “W-Well, yeah, but it was for you, too! We had to clear that false accusation!”

“Skull…” Ann began, but trailed off. Goro, uncharacteristically, said nothing, looking between Ryuji and Akira with something like shock visible beneath his mask.

Akira glared at him. “That… I’m grateful for that, yes, but it wasn’t my primary goal. I was keeping my promise, no matter what. I thought you understood that.”

Makoto glanced around. “Everyone, maybe we should…”

“We thought he was dead! Should a promise to a dead guy really have been more important than helpin’ the guy that was still alive?” Ryuji asked, and everyone in the bus recoiled a little, because regardless of their feelings, they knew he’d misspoken. They all _knew_ how Akira felt about Goro, and what Goro’s apparent death had done to him. And Ryuji had crammed his entire foot into his mouth.

Akira had gone very still, a glimmer of red in his eyes. Goro was just watching, fascinated, because he’d never seen Akira at odds with any of his teammates before. Sumire was looking nervously around the bus, not sure what was happening or what to say, but unnerved by the look on Akira’s face.

Finally, Akira said lowly, “Apologize.”

“For what? For thinking my best friend was more important?” Ryuji huffed.

“For responding to gratitude by brushing it off!” Akira snapped. “He thanked us for doing something that mattered to him, and you just… Why would you even say that?”

“Joker, I think it would be better to—” Haru tried, but Akira shook his head.

“No. This bus isn’t going _anywhere_ until I hear an apology,” he growled. “I will stay parked here for as long as it takes. All of the things you all said in the engine room, all of that about him joining the team… Ryuji, you _included him in the vote to go after Maruki, as a phantom thief_ , and now you’re acting like this? He’s the one who set all of this in motion to get us out of this goddamn delusion. He could have just _left us here_ and he didn’t, and not one of you has treated him like part of the team. Was everything you said before just bullshit?”

The air in the bus was growing oppressive. Akira’s core element was curse, and it was manifesting in a crawling feeling creeping over their skin. Futaba reached out and tugged at his sleeve. “Joker, we need to go.”

“I’m not finished,” Akira snapped. “None of you have made any kind of effort to actually back up what you said and treat him like a teammate.” After a moment, he added, “Violet, I’m not mad at you.”

“O-Okay, senpai…”

The sound of chains was audible from outside the bus, and Futaba said, with greater urgency, “Joker, _the Reaper_.”

“The Reaper can _wait_. I’m _tired of this_.”

“Wh-What’s the Reaper?” Sumire asked nervously, watching the rest of the Thieves grow increasingly more freaked out. Morgana was yelling that the Reaper was getting closer. Akira hadn’t stopped staring at Ryuji, pointedly ignoring him.

From outside the bus, there was a familiar groaning wail and an ominous rattle of chains, and Akira finally turned his attention to the window instead and rolled it down.

“We’re having a team issue. I will deal with you in a minute,” he snarled at the tall shadow.

The Reaper lifted one of its shotguns, and without hesitation, Akira reached for his mask. _“Satanael.”_

The demon lord filled the space between the bus and the Reaper, towering over both. The Reaper hovered for a moment, like it was hesitating. Then it turned, gliding away down a different tunnel. The Thieves were dead silent, and when Akira turned back around, Ryuji said, eyes wide, “S-Sorry for bein’ a dick, Crow.”

“...apology accepted,” Goro said. He glanced at Akira, who could read volumes in partially-hidden eyes. Hopefully this would be the turning point.

Akira turned back around and put the bus in gear. “Well, now that we’ve resolved that and given Violet a terrible impression of us, let’s finish today’s mission so we can go home.”

“J-Joker, can we talk about what you did to the Reape—”

“No.”

“...okay……”

**Author's Note:**

> For context, Jade showed me [this Mementos dialogue screenshot](https://twitter.com/bravebiade/status/1250518963412484097?s=21) about two weeks ago and I got exceptionally annoyed.
> 
> And then, once I got to the relevant part of the game and saw some of the other story dialogue, I got even more annoyed. Did two different people write the story and the Mementos blurbs, or what?
> 
> Annoyance is a lovely motivator.


End file.
